


The Dalish Prince

by AlphaBlythe, Elandriel



Category: DA Fandom, Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Smut, Loss, M/M, Mahariel is literally gorgeous, Male Mahariel - Freeform, Not too many though I even get confused sometimes, Oghren - Freeform, Some OC's - Freeform, Zevran/Male Mahariel - Freeform, getting over trauma, mild POV switches, mostly canon, past trauma, some canon divergence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-12-07 05:16:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18230414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphaBlythe/pseuds/AlphaBlythe, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elandriel/pseuds/Elandriel
Summary: The Dalish clans all know of the notorious beauty from clan Sabrae, his story is also very known. At a younger age he was known for his promiscuity and prowess in well... anything sexual. That was all until he met his bondmate, Tamlen. He loved that man more than anything.Forced to become a Grey warden, Mahariel begrudgingly does his duty. But at what cost?(I'm really bad at writing summaries but it's worth a read I promise.)





	1. Fights Against Fate.

**Author's Note:**

> Some of this isn't translate because I'd like to show some of Zevran's lack of knowledge on the elvish language as well as the fact that many of the elves would sing songs out of tradition without knowing much about the meaning behind the words, only knowing the significance because they lost so much of their culture.

Chapter One

“The Grey Warden dies here!” 

“Uh...Sure?”

“Tie him up, we’ll interrogate him later.”

Zevran awoke to laughing and the sound of teasing amongst who? he could not tell. His body was tied up and placed on the ground facing the broken cart and dead cows he had used for his obviously failed assassination of the two wardens. “Ughh..” he grumbled lifting his face from the ground in a surprisingly successful attempt at flipping himself around, only to be greeted with a rather domestic scene of a rather strange group of companions sitting in a circle eating what appeared to be some sort of sandwich. 

“Oh! Euriel..the captive is awake!” The rather beautiful redhead pointed to him causing the rest of the group in the circle to turn.

“One second!” a voice in the distance answered; followed by a distant bark.

The redhead then approached him and untied the rope that kept him immobilized, watching intently as he sat up and groaned; holding his head to soothe the pain of a growing headache he presumed was a direct cause of being knocked out. 

Moments later a rather dashing elf he presumed was Euriel appeared in the distance with a barking mabari in jumping around him as he patted the dogs head and smiled, Zevran almost had to force his mouth shut; the elf in front of him was probably the most beautiful and handsome man he had ever laid his eyes on. His pale, muscular body hidden under a loose white tunic and tight fitting leather pants. The elf's head sporting smooth silky black hair pulled into a long elegant braid with loose strands framing his porcelain face covered with deep black tattoos that marked the man as one of the dalish. His gawking was cut short however when the elf grabbed Zevran's hair and forced him into the ground. 

“Who hired you.” Snarled Euriel kneeling next to Zevran and awaiting a reply.

“Oh, I am to be interrogated? Let me cut this short. I am an Antivan Crow hired by a rather Taciturn fellow in the capital…Loghain I believe. My job being to kill any remaining grey wardens in Ferelden, namely the only remaining wardens. Being you and the other warden you travel with, of course.” 

“Ahh, I see you were not paid for silence then.” The orange haired woman spoke.

“It seems he was rather paid to talk my ears off then.” The man in front of him laughed softly to himself. “No need to keep him around then I guess.” He spoke softly pulling a small dagger out of his boots and pointing it at Zevran causing a shiver to rack the Antivans body.

“Wait. Wait!” Zevran choked “I may be of use to you yet!”

“Oh? This should be good.” Euriel lowered his blade, face portraying little of what the man could be thinking.

“Well...you see I was hired to kill you, a task in which I have failed at sadly. But now according to the crows my life is forfeit, meaning if I return to the crows they may kill me on principle for failing. But I could lend my skills to you. I could clean armor, fight alongside you, maybe show you an Antivan massage if you will.” Zevran winked, hoping that this offer would be enough to avoid an immediate execution on his part.

Seeing the hesitation in the man before him did little to soothe his fear of an imminent death however so he decided to add a bit more, to be on the safe side. 

“Surely I could do worse than work under the whiles of a deadly sex god, no?”

The handsome elf in front of him laughed at that, confidently offering a hand to Zevran.

The Antivan stood, and grabbed the Euriel’s hand “I hereby pledge my loyalty to you, I am your man without reservation, this I swear.” 

“I guess that will have to do.” 

After arriving at camp Zevran often found himself sitting on a log around the fire with his eyes wandering to the dalish elf, Euriel. The man carried himself in a way in which he had only seen princes, making purposeful strides and wearing surprisingly simple but rich clothing. Being at the camp finally allowed Zevran the luxury of taking in the man's features. Euriel had long, pale, pointed ears on which adorned three golden earrings on the left ear and six golden earrings on his right. The mans pale skin was a surprising contrast to his long black hair which was no longer braided but pulled back in a high ponytail with the same pieces still framing his delicate facial features. His vallaslin framed and accented his face, making the light golden hue of his eyes evident and piercing. Complimenting his face so well Zevran made a mental note to thank whatever Elvhen god his facial tattoos represented later. 

Euriel even dressed in a manner in which he could imagine some sort of elven royalty dressing. Often wearing no shoes at all or sporting handsome dalish leather boots that cut off just below the knee. The elf wore black trousers that fit him in all the right places and tucked loosely into his boots, finally leading up to a black belt in which a loose white tunic was tucked. The shirt itself cut into a low ‘V’ on the mans front which allowed Zevran a rather lovely look at what could be found underneath it. The last detail the Antivan noticed he found rather odd, a ring, thicker than the ones that could be found on the man's ears but engraved with what he figured was some sort of elvhen writing. The reason Zevran found this odd is that whenever he had asked Euriel what it said, the man seemed to cut him short and find a quick excuse to stop the conversation before he had to explain it’s meaning.

Another thing that Zevran had noticed about the warden is that the man had an undeniable sex appeal, even the women in the camp were drawn to him. Not that he was jealous but Euriel seemed to love the ladies attention and flirted with them whenever possible, often resulting in Leiliana having to excuse herself due to her incessant stuttering, blushing and giggling in his presence; or Morrigan finding any excuse to touch him or start up playful banter between the two of them. He was truly captivating.

“What’re you thinking about?” Zevran was snapped out of his daze by a curious Allistair who was now poking the fire in front of him with a stick. “Actually scratch that I don’t think I’d want to know judging by the look in your eyes just now.” The warden cringed, returning his attention to the fire. 

“Supper’s ready everyone!” Euriel yelled from the small campfire in the distance in which Morrigan and Leliana were already waiting intently, listening to every word the man spoke as if commiting each syllable that left his mouth to memory. 

“Hey, Zevran.” A hand waved in front of his face “You still there? Euriel said supper's ready.”  
“Oho! I just hope it’s better than that grey sludge you served us for breakfast.” Zevran joked lightly as he got up and walked over to the group where Euriel was happily distributing soup into some sort of strange ceramic bowls. 

“Hope you guys are hungry I think I made enough food to feed a small army of qunari, right sten?” The dalish elf joked earning a small snort from Allistair.

“You know that’ll hardly be enough to feed two hungry wardens let alone a whole army, right?  
“Yeah I guess that’s about right, is the hungry thing part of being a warden? You have to remember I literally have zero clue about this whole ‘wardening’ thing we have going here.” Euriel teased, filling Alistair's bowl with a much heftier amount of soup than anyone else other than the dalish man himself got.

“How long have you been initiated in the wardens Euriel? If you don’t mind my asking.” Leiliana chimed in as she sat next to Allistair who was now sitting on one of the logs around the fire that was now almost completely full with the entire company seated around it.

“Oh mighty grey warden, please do enlighten the lovely woman.” Zevran quipped as he moved to sit on the last empty log around the fire with his soup, smiling as he took a small bite.

Euriel moved towards the fire and took a bite of his own soup before speaking. “I have literally only been a warden for like two weeks, and I became one right before almost every warden in Ferelden was killed during the battle at Ostagar so my knowledge on wardens and their business is akin to zero.” 

This shocked Zevran a bit, the confidence the dalish portrayed when posturing was necessary demonstrated none of the unsurety he was seeing now, impressive.

“Really? I had assumed Duncan would have told you more on your journey to ostagar. Yikes...mphfh… that means I’ll have to catch you up on all the unpleasant bits.” Allistair looked grim as he slurped soup off the spoon at the edge of his lips. Zevran would definitely have to do some eavesdropping on the two when they next spoke, the wardens were bound to have some juicy gossip.

After everyone had finished eating and moved to their respective places in camp, as Zevran was placed on first watch for the night along with Leliana. She seemed nice enough from what he could tell, but he had a nagging feeling that the lovely girl on the surface hid some sort of troubled past; of course he could only recognize that having one of his own. Leiliana sighed and rested her head on her hand looking longingly into the fire. “I see our illustrious leader has a new admirer?” Zevran almost taunted an answer out of her. “I know he’s all flirty with Morrigan and I but I feel as if there’s a huge brick wall in place between himself and others….It’s kind of like he’s cut himself off from any emotional attachment and just acts nicely towards us as a sort of buffer to avoid any unpleasantries. She grunted frustratedly “So far the only personal thing he’s opened up to us about was that he has no idea what he was supposed to be doing as a grey warden, and he told that to the entire group. He is undoubtedly the most handso-” They both sat up quietly as they heard a rustling in the woods ahead of them, followed by an eerie silence, looking to each other leiliana readied her bow and aimed it in the area of disturbance as Zevran gripped the daggers on his back. They waited for a moment as they watched a shape stumble out of the bushes before falling face first as soon as it reached the clearing, the antivan nodded at the red head before proceeding to approach the figure; squinting his eyes in an essentially futile attempt at seeing what it was. Upon closer inspection he discovered it was their oh so fearless leader in a drunken heap on the ground in front of him with a bottle of what he assumed was some sort of strong alcohol judging by the smell. Leiliana arrived beside him lifting up Euriels arm before allowing it to drop limply back onto the ground. Euriel woke with a start attempting to sit up. “Ir abelas, ema telsila sul’em.” (I am sorry, have no worry for me) he spoke softly, his voice breaking as he looked towards the Antivan making his breath hitch; Euriel had been crying. He shook his head as the dalish man stood up shakily and dropped the bottle in a failed attempt at walking forward and instead almost ran directly into Zevran. The former crow nodded towards Leiliana who took it as a cue to grab the dalish man's arm and drape it over her shoulder as he did the same, together they managed to place the man safely into his tent without much struggle. They both left the tent in contemplating silence as they saw Allistair now standing next to the fire with his head in his lap, he lifted it a bit and stifled a pained sigh as he spoke. “I’m assuming you’re not staring at me because of my dashing good looks.” He jested though no one including himself seemed amused. “What was that all about?” The ginger spoke softly as she sat beside Allistair and touched his back gently. Zevran sat as Allistair began “Grey Warden business.” he frowned “I’m afraid I can’t say more.” The ex-templar then stood and retreated to his tent. The rest of his watch was spent in silence, with both him and Leliana lost in thought, with quiet sobs emitting from the Dalish man's tent.


	2. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The travelers come across the Dalish camp. Shenanigans ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some things In the Dalish tongue aren't going to be translated because I feel like if you translate everything, especially songs and poems from the next chapter, the language loses it's mystery and elegance that English cannot portray.

The next week Zevran found himself following their leader through spider-infested woods. Euriel spoke little and only when someone initiated conversation, even Zevran's unceasing teasing and flirting with him and the others did nothing to lift the man's spirit. They fell into an uncomfortable silence that the former crow absolutely loathed, they had been walking for hours without a rest when suddenly Euriel came to a halt in front of them and raising a fist in the air to signal them to stop. Suddenly a group of elves he assumed were also dalish appeared in front of them, they ran at Euriel but he stood his ground; they tackled Euriel to the ground in what appeared to be a giant dog pile. “Ar elana tel din!” (I can’t breathe!) the handsome mans laugh was full of unrestrained joy and he seemed to be the most at-ease they had seen him since his drunken incident. The elves slowly got off of him but a two children he assumed were the ages of 5? 4? He was unsure but as soon as they got to him he lifted one with each arm and rested them on each of his hips “Ma ta ema felgara! (You two have grown so much!) I missed you both! How is your mother doing?” he smiled as he held the two children and bounced them softly on his hips whilst walking down the path. The rest of the elves grouped around him and the children laughing amicably amongst themselves effectively blocking Euriel from the groups view, unsure of what to do they walked sheepishly behind the group of elves.

Zevran hadn’t noticed the tension that Euriel had held even before the incident in the woods before, well.. That was until he saw how at ease the man seemed amongst the clan, even with many of their warriors bedridden with what he had heard to be some sort of illness the clan welcome Euriel with open arms and the rest of his group with mild suspicion which he guessed was with good reason.

Euriel let the two children he had been carrying around go in order to speak with the Zar..Zarthian was it? Doesn’t matter. They were told to make themselves comfortable whilst their illustrious leader discussed the situation with the keeper, which was definitely not an easy thing to do with an entire clan giving you suspicious glances every minute. This place was definitely not Zevran's style.

“We have been allowed to stay so long as we seek the cure for the cursed clan warriors, We will be setting up camp on the far edge of this site so we do not overstep our welcome and you all aren’t always being stared at; though I do doubt lovely companions such as yourselves would find that demeaning.” Euriel winked at them causing a small flutter in the Antivans stomach, that was new.  
Their grey warden then led their strange group to a small opening near the edge of camp where they then began setting up, Zevran found himself having to literally tear his eyes off Euriel to get anything done; the man was simply the most subtly seductive being he had ever seen, whether it was the movements of his face or the grace he demonstrated in his every movement, the former crow felt like the dalish man was the predator and he was the prey and there was nothing he could do to escape this mans clutches because he almost wanted to be caught. He was soon shook out of his thoughts by Sten leaning beside where he was attempting to set up a tent and failing due to his distraction whose name starts with an ‘E’.

“The elf spends too much time daydreaming, under the qun this would not be an acceptable trait.” He spoke loudly pointing to the crow with disdain. 

“Oooooh… whatcha daydreaming about?” Leiliana smiled

“That is not of importance, what is important is that he stops.” Sten replied so sternly in fact that Zevran could have kissed him, that small sentence is the only thing that stopped the slight blush creeping at his cheeks at the mere sight of the dalish man who was now laying in the grass a few meters away, most likely asleep. He mentally kicked himself, a crow should not be acting like a crushing schoolgirl; he had to remember that he was trained to survive and that was the only reason he traveled with them. There could be no other reason because he would not allow it.

Euriel left soon after making it easier for the Antivan elf to focus on setting up camp with the rest of his companions…..But that was getting boring so he ended up talking to Leiliana with a playful flirt thrown in every now and then, the redhead was a rather pretty woman with a strong faith in Andraste he didn’t understand. He could tell from her skills that she had obviously not been in the chantry her whole life and that intrigued him, he wanted to know everything about everyone and she, Morrigan and their warden leader seemed to have quite a lot to hide from everyone; frankly it was unnerving and had Zevran on edge almost always, not knowing what they might do next. But one thing he did know is that he literally lived for gossip and so he decided to fan some flames around camp and see if anything came of it.

“I see you’ve been pinning for our handsome grey warden, my dear Leliana.” Zevran started giving the most innocent grin he could manage.

“Mmm yes he is quite….magnificent isn’t he? You can’t tell me you haven’t had your eye on his as well, don’t deny it either he seems to….distract you.” She countered giving a small smirk

“Ah but you see unlike you I find myself unwilling to anger the temptress Morrigan, she is quite the specimen my dear; and it appears Euriel has taken notice.” 

“Men like Euriel don’t go for ‘her’ kind i’m sure of it! What man would go for a woman who chooses to wear rags?”

The former crows heart sunk as he looked over to see Euriel sitting at Morrigan's campsite with a look of absolute glee on his face as if he was laughing at something the witch had said. “Don’t look now then, because it appears Euriel is that kind of man.” 

“Maybe i’ll just have to try something else then.” Leiliana huffed as she got up and stomped into her tent, closing the flap behind her.

Shortly after Euriel called his companions to a meeting at a fire placed in the center of their small campsite, after everyone was seated around it he began to speak. “The clan has graciously asked us to join them for “Ema’l ri (Summer Feast), along with having the privilege of witnessing the tattooing of the vallaslin, this is an honour and an extremely rare occurrence for outsiders to ever be able to know about or even to see. So I expect everyone to be on their best behavior and to not ask any questions to anyone about anything and only speak when spoken to, if you have any questions save them for me when we return to camp. Dress in the best clothes you can find and Allistair if I see one mustard stain on anything you decide to wear I swear to the creators themselves I will skin you alive myself. We meet the keeper and his apprentice in exactly one hour, not one minute later. Dismissed.”

Zevran went to his tent and immediately tore through his bag for anything he could find that would be somewhat appropriate for the occasion, he settled on a form fitting white tunic and tight leather pants along with leather boots, with his hair braided into his signature half up half-down look. Satisfied with his appearance he stepped out of his tent and towards the fire and sat down, he guessed he had about thirty minutes left judging by the fact no one else had left their tent; he set his face into it palm as he stared into the fire as he heard a muffled laughter coming from Euriel’s tent. He sat up quickly and straightened his ears to listen in as best he could. 

“Would you stop moving Euriel!” A voice he imagined was Leliana's spoke first.  
“Sorry! I’m a bit nervous.” a hushed whisper replied  
“I won’t put too much on, just enough to accent the tattoos you already have!”  
“Okay okay i’ll stop.”

A few minutes later Euriel stepped out of his tent and Zevran had to stifle a gasp at how handsome the man in front of him looked, his long black hair was straight and reached down past his waist. He was wearing a traditional dalish cape as well as a tight fitting black shirt with intricate silver designs catching the light revealing different patterns with each step the elf took. The tunic was tucked gently into black tight fitting pants that flowed into a leather fabric that strapped onto his bare feet and covered the most sensitive points leaving the heel and front of the foot uncovered. The tattoos on his face were accented by a paint Leiliana had put on, giving it a more intricate appearance, for lack of a better description Euriel was the most stunning sight his eyes had ever seen.

“Like what you see?” Euriel winked at him making the Antivans heart flutter.

“Surely you know this my dear grey warden, you are a man that stokes lust in the heart of men and women alike.” He teased back, attempting to regain his composure

“Mmm, and yourself ma’fenor? (my dear?)” Euriel countered lightly caressing the side of the former crows face.  
That was enough to cease Zevran’s train of thought completely “I..uhhh..mhm.” he finally got out causing the dalish man to smirk in amusement, drawing his hand away and taking a step back as Leiliana exited his tent.

“Shall we be off then?” Euriel held his arm out for and Leliana grabbed it shooting a small glare to the antivan as the group began to leave for the dalish ceremony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter! The next one should be considerably longer because there'll be more going on story-wise! Enjoy!


	3. Ema'l Ri

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dalish Tattooing Ceremony, Euriel opens up about his past but hides anything to do with Grey Wardens, much to Zevran's frustration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the Kudos! I appreciate them and they really encourage me to keep writing! Hope you enjoy chapter three!

As they arrived to the supper and ceremony they were asked to sit in a circle amongst the dalish people around a fire, Euriel did not sit beside his companions but was rather forcibly placed in between a small group of gawking elvhen women. They all playfully teased him and Euriel seemed rather into it until one of them spoke “Thu is Tamlen?(how is Tamlen?)” at that simple phrase he assumed was a question their grey warden leader tensed up more than he had ever seen, he lost almost all patience for the women and soon returned to sit with his companions instead. The festivities began with some young elves passing drums to every dalish elf in the camp, but not to the companions Zevran assumed it’s because they were simply brought to watch not participate; but as soon as one of the elves began drumming others then began to join in, each with their own unique beat that still fit perfectly with the others, all the elves joined in with their bodies all flowing in time with another while their hands played different beats, Euriel closed his eyes as he played his own beat it was less happy than the others and more of a pounding sadness was hidden within it but it was beautiful. Then the all began singing 

A tuast athdea, a tuast sal’shiral  
A esha’lin or da’lin him’sa i,  
A uralas’falon enansal, vhalla  
Ma’eshalin or da’lin i’lis em’an la’var  
A le’thal  
A’ran ebala laimasha el isa ma’lin  
Ju a tuast inor mar cla’i ina a pel

A beautiful voice cut through all the drumming and singing as his eyes were drawn to the source of the sound, Euriel stood and walked towards a young elf as he took his hand, and began the final part of the chant by himself as he lifted the other elf to his feet. 

Tel’din asahl la’val sa is laim  
Or nedan or laimen  
Lasem a bo’nd danem, hima tuast  
Bo’nd innor vhalla….fenorain vhalla,  
Qu’len

Euriel led the young elf towards the small river beside the clans camp as the other dalish began following whilst drumming more softly than before, the grey wardens companions followed silently behind in awe. They watched as the elves gathered along the side of the river as Euriel and the keeper brought the elf deeper into the river, submerging themselves completely as the river began to pulse with the ancient magic the elves were projecting from their music, they were under the water for nearly an hour when the water began to part in the center as the three dalish men exited the river, the young elf that was among them now had new tattoos trailing his tender red body; he seemed exhausted and drained leaning on both the keeper and Euriel as they trudged out of the water. The dalish that remained on the shore began whooping and cheering as they exited the river Euriel was absolutely glowing with happiness as they returned to the center of the dalish camp for the beginning of the feast and dance. Zevran found himself eating little but dancing with the women and men of the clan as they taught him and the other companions some traditional dances, it was possibly the most carefree he had felt since he was a child.

After a while the clan began to calm down and they all sat down for stories around the fire, what he found the most surprising is that Euriel volunteered to tell a story first and all the children of the camp got as close as they could to listen to his tale, some even sat in his lap as others began braiding flowers and small jewels and herbs into his long silky hair. Zevran hadn’t imagined that the man would be so good with children it lit up a small flame of admiration in him as the children waiting for him to begin.

 

Euriel spoke intensely as he shifted one of the children on his lap 

“I tell you all a tale that the hahren in my clan told me before I joined the Grey Wardens, the story of the fall of the Dales.”

The children gasped in excitement as they all huddled closer, the adults chuckled amongst themselves and turned their heads to listen to his story.

“Hear of what makes you dalish, children. Our history.  
Long ago, we were slaves to the humans, slaves to a terrible empire built on the darkest magic. When it fell. We became free.  
We built a homeland in the Dales, worshipping the Creators and rebuilding the culture and history we lost in our long years of slavery.  
If you ever lost your bow, it’s a lot like that.”

Euriel joked earning a few giggles from the children in front of him as well as some snorts amongst the younger adults who were listening as well. After they all quieted down he continued…. 

“Even though we were free the humans wouldn’t let us be.  
They were resentful; because we would not worship their gods, and because we put our people first.  
Over the years, their nations grew cold towards the Dales in their eyes, we were blasphemers and cruel tyrants.  
Then the humans declared war on the Dales and so the Dales fell.  
They took our lands and dispersed our people, forcing us to live in their cities and abandon our gods.  
But many of us refused to relinquish our ways.  
We instead chose to scatter to the winds, wandering the lands.  
We chose wandering the lands rather than the human rule.  
To survive and preserve our culture, the clans stay apart until the day the Elvhenan have a homeland once more.  
We shall return the old ways to those who have lost them.”

“For we are the Dalish; keepers of the lost lore, walkers of the lonely path.”

He paused, waiting for the others to absorb what he had said until they all replied in unison 

“We are the last Elvhenan. Never again shall we submit.”

Euriel glowed with pride as the children all cheered as they asked him for story after story, until the adults and children all began to retire as had some of their companions. When the ceremony was declared over the rest of them walked back to their small camp in a thoughtful silence, with each one pondering what they had just experienced. Zevran felt the happiest he had ever been, he had never experience such camaraderie amongst a people and he felt honoured to have been allowed to participate. Once they returned to camp Euriel and Zevran were put on first watch whilst the rest of their companions returned to their tents for some well earned rest, the antivan decided this was the best time to ask one of the many questions he had developed throughout the ceremony.

“At the beginning of the ceremony, what was that woman asking that caused you to tense up so much?” He spoke quietly as if he thought it would cause Euriel to anger once more, but no anger came the man in question gained a sad look in his eyes as he gazed into the woods around them.

“I suppose that’s a fair question.” Euriel sighed and started playing with the thick inscribed golden band on his finger. “Before I became a warden I was a rather infamous member of my clan, I was known as ‘ir’felondar’ seducer of many, I could get any man or woman I wanted at a whim earning me the nickname ‘prince of the Dalish’ from some shemlen who had succumbed to my charm. Then everything changed, I met Tamlen the love of my life, he was seen by the clan as my ‘sal’lath’ my soul love and he changed everything I had ever known, as he was the first to ever reject and challenge my charm, I came to love the game we played and so did he so finally we were bonded, body and soul as one. Until he was taken from me by my own curiosity, right before Duncan brought me to Ostagar to become a warden, Tamlen and I found a group of shemlen in the woods outside our camp. I...I killed them to protect the clan but actions like that rarely come without consequences… soon after we found a cave that one of the shem’s had mentioned before they had died, it was full of dark magic unlike we had ever seen. Our curiosity grew with each step we took and eventually we found a mirror, Tamlen approached the mirror and claimed he had seen something move inside of it.” 

His eyes dropped and he choked back a sob before shakily continuing.

“I should have told him to move away as soon as he had said that, but I felt so enticed towards the mirror it was as if it was calling me. I don’t remember what happened next, only that I awoke three days later with some sort of illness and that a human named Duncan had rescued me but not Tamlen from the caverns. I assisted with the search as much as I could before the clan had to move. That’s when I was told that I was to become a grey warden because it was the only way I would this ‘taint’ I was angry. Why would my keeper send me away after everything? To join some shitty group of shemlen who didn’t know fuck all about respect for anyone or anything? Had I not contributed and lost enough for her? I was ready to die rather than join the order, until my keeper told me I had no choice. After that I was allowed to attend the funeral for my love that I was unsure was even dead, and then I was sent away to Ostagar along with Duncan… and well, to cut things short I never wanted to be a grey warden and I’m not even sure if I want to now even if I have little choice in the matter.”

“Little choice in the matter?” Zevran questioned, enraptured by Euriel’s story

“I….Um….Forget I said that.” The man shook his head in reply. “I can’t elaborate anyways, grey warden business.”

Zevran huffed halfheartedly, he was getting rather tired of all the secretiveness surrounding the grey wardens and their ’business’ but that was hardly the most interesting thing in that story so he continued.

“If you don’t mind my asking my dear warden, how long had you and this Tamlen known each other before you found out you were ‘sal’lath’?”

“Finding out if someone is your soul love happens almost immediately during points of intimacy, from actions as chaste as a small kiss or a more….lustful entanglement. It is a physical bond that connects the minds and body of a pair. Usually only happening once in an elf’s lifetime, I know you are not dalish but have you experienced anything like this? I’ve heard rumours that even though the city elves are so….disconnected from the creators it is still possible.”

This struck a chord in Zevran's heart, a wound that had not been completely closed. Rinna; A love he did not deserve at the time and will never receive again. 

“Of course not! I was born in a whorehorse and raise by the women inside! From a young age I was taught to sell the illusion of love, much like yourself in your younger years I might add, ‘Mr. Ir’felondar.’”

“Younger years? I’m twenty-two!”

“It was merely a jest my friend, I know how sensitive you wood-elves are about your age.” 

“Apparently.” Euriel pouted crossing his arms and turning away from him.

“Maybe I should have guessed your age amongst that of a child!” Zevran jabbed giving a playful smirk at the elf who was now facing him with his face twisted in some sort of expression he was unsure of the meaning. 

Not even a second later the pale elf beside him broke into a fit of giggles, it was the most beautiful sound the former crow had ever heard. Unrestrained happiness flowing out of the man in front of him, a stark contrast to the tension they had felt minutes earlier. Frankly Zevran prefered this Euriel to the sad one, and he made a mental note to try to get the dalish hunter to laugh more often.

 

“I have one more question if I may.” Zevran looked towards the man who was still giggling a bit at his previous joke.

“You can ask but I can’t guarantee an answer.” Euriel straightened up gazing intently at Zevran.  
“Fair enough, I have been made to believe that every member in a clan has a certain role to fulfill yes?”  
“That’s Correct, yes”  
“What was your role?”  
“Oh I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that, really. I am an atrocious liar and I’m afraid my job wasn’t the most uh…favorable job in a clan.”  
“Which was…?”  
Euriel waiting a second while nervously running his hand up and down his arm. “Well don’t laugh but I was in charge of well, babysitting the children of the hunters while they were gone.” he smiled coyly.  
Zevran couldn’t stop the laughter from flowing out of his mouth, he had so many questions. If he was a babysitter how did he wield a bow and dual wield knives almost professionally? His whole brain hurt thinking about it.  
His thoughts were interrupted by a playful slap on his upper arm “You said you wouldn’t laugh!” Zevran's arm felt tingly at the contact but he shook the feeling off quickly. “I have so many questions about the statement you just made you have no idea my friend.”  
“Well I-Huh?”  
Whatever Euriel was gonna say was cut off by Sten physically picking the dalish man up, doing a 180 and placing him back down facing away from the fire at which they were sitting, simply stating “You Bas weren’t doing your duties, I am here to relieve the warden of his duties for the night.”  
Euriel turned and faced Sten with a rather aggressive look on his face, he spoke with venom that made even Zevran flinch as he spoke “If you are so set on this ‘chain of command’. Sten. You would know that I. Outrank. You. And if you ever attempt to overrule that chain again, I will put you down like the other fela’sil you choose to act like. Have. I. Made. Myself. Clear. Sten.”

Sten stood taller if that was even possible. “Not anymore. I’m taking command.” he drew his weapon and prepared himself for battle.

Zevran jumped to the wardens defense seeing that the warden seemed unarmed and unprepared but Euriel simply spoke “I know how this Qun works, I have to do this myself.” Sten however was not content to wait and swung at Euriel. 

The warden jumped backwards and pulled a two daggers from his sleeves, he still wore his beautiful ceremonial clothes but that didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. He flipped his long hair over his shoulder and postured himself aggressively. Sten swung again and Euriel reacted accordingly, gracefully flipping himself to the side and throwing a wink to Zevran who gave a low whistle in response. The commotion they were causing was rather loud and some of their companions began exiting the tents and standing alert beside him as they watched the duel go down. For every heavy swing Sten made with his longsword, Euriel simply dodged easily and taunted the larger man by fake yawning or simply acting as if it wasn’t a duel but simply a small inconvenience. The Qunari was getting frustrated quickly, Zevran however found it extremely enticing. He had always been a sucker for teases. 

The duel had been going on for a while and Euriel hadn’t attempted to strike the large man once, Sten however was sweating fervently and seemed on the verge of simply giving up. Sten backed up from another failed swing and prepared himself for another most likely failed attempt at hitting the junior warden when suddenly he stopped moving. Zevran hadn’t seen but Euriel had somehow made it from his defensive position to behind the Qunari man. Leliana and Allistair let out a gasp as Sten realized this fact too late and the dalish man put both his daggers to the qunari’s neck. The larger man let out a frustrated groan as he dropped his broadaxe and closed his eyes as if waiting for the hands of death to take him. 

Unfortunately for him death would not be granted at all, instead Euriel withdrew his daggers and spit on the ground in front of Stens feet. 

“You have won, Warden. What now?”  
“You’re on kitchen duty for a month, including dishes and camp cleanup, do this again and i’ll slay you where you stand. Have I made myself clear.”  
“Yes.”

Sten walked back towards his tent and went inside quietly, leaving the rest of them gawking at Euriel, he always seemed so gentle this was a side of him they had never seen before. It was thrilling, he was like a rose. Beautiful to look at, but painful to touch; and wow did Zevran ever want to touch. 

Before his thoughts could take him further Euriel spoke once more with anger still present in his voice. “Allistair, Leiliana. You’re both on watch for the rest of the night. Zevran your watch is done you may return to your tent.” As soon as he finished he sharply turned towards his tent and entered. Allistair and Leliana were definitely not about to argue and they sat down for watch by the campfire, Zevran for once did as he was told and went to his tent. As he was undressing he heard muffled speaking in the tent beside him, Euriels voice followed by an unknown female voice responding. He couldn’t make out any words but the voices stopped after about five minutes anyways, unfortunately leaving him to his own devices quickly bored him and he soon fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want updates on chapter progress as well as when a new chapter is posted, follow my instagram! @vhenan_heart


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